12 Things
by GundamDelta6
Summary: Twelve Christmas scenes in the lives of various NCIS agents, past and present. Inspired by "The 12 Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers which I don't own . Drabble collection. HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1

Twelve Things

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Title: Twelve Things

Author: GundamDelta6

Category: Navy NCIS

Pairing(s): Will be listed in each chapter.

Rating: PG to be safe

Summary: Twelve Christmas scenes in the lives of various NCIS agents, past and present. Inspired by "The 12 Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers (which I don't own). Drabble collection.

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Pairing: None

Character: Jethro Gibbs

Season: 6

**Chapter 1/12--Director's Orders**

_The first thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me  
Is finding a Christmas tree_

Wondering for the fiftieth time that night why he, of all the agents in the building, had been asked to bring in the capstone of the Christmas decorations this year, Jethro parked his pick-up in front of the gate. Large, faded red letters arching across the top proclaimed the place to be "Red's Tree Lot". Sighing deeply, he got out of the vehicle and made his way through the lot to find the tree.

"Hello there! I'm Red, and this here is Red's Tree Lot! We sell trees, trees, and only trees! Can I help you find something?" Jethro turned to see a rather overweight man in a patched and frayed Santa costume standing next to him and waiting for an answer. Figuring the easiest way to get this done and over with was to get the obviously fake Santa to leave him alone.

"No thanks, 'Red'. I'm just looking." The NCIS agent rolled his eyes as he turned away from the lot owner. It seemed that every tree he looked at had something wrong with it. This one tilted slightly to the left. That one tilted _more than _slightly to the right. Another one had over half the branches missing needles, and yet another looked like it housed a few squirrels.

This was getting him nowhere. Every once in a while, Red would pop back over to see if Jethro needed help, or to espouse the virtues of the tree his customer happened to be looking over at the time. Finally, Jethro had had enough. Sighing heavily for the millionth time since he had arrived, he left the lot treeless and got back into his truck.

It wasn't long before he reached his next destination. Parking and getting out of the truck, he looked at the sign above the lot he was in now. Very large, bright red letters proclaimed the place to be "K-Mart". Entering the place, he found what he was looking for immediately. Carrying the box to a register, he paid in cash and left, laying the large cardboard case in the bed of the truck. And without a second thought, he returned to the office.

Not much later, Jethro was adding the last piece to the boxed tree when he felt a strange presence behind him. "Yes, Director?" he asked without turning around.

"What is this, Agent Gibbs?" Leon Vance asked, walking around and looking over the tree as Jethro closed the box and leaned it against the wall behind him. Of course, Jethro wasted no time in answering.

Reading directly off the box, he said, "It's a six-foot-tall Colorado Pine." Looking back up, he noticed that the director was not amused. "You told me to get a tree. You didn't say it had to be real." Failing to come up with a logical response, Leon shook his head briefly and walked over to and entered the elevator. Looking over his work with an odd sort of smirk, Jethro followed suit. His work was done.

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YAY! My first NCIS drabble! There will be ELEVEN more of these. I'm hoping to get all of the other chapters up before Christmas (which is in 9 days...roughly). If there's a particular pairing you want to see in the next chapter, or a later one, let me know in a review. (Here's a hint....if you don't review, it lowers the chances of me continuing this.....)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2/12--Trials and Suffering**

Pairing: Kate/Gibbs (as a request from anna5545)

Character Focus: Jethro Gibbs, Caitlin Todd

Season: 2

Author's Note: Gibbs and Kate might be a little OOC…I've never tried anything with Kate before.

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_The second thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me:  
Rigging up the lights_

Christmas preparations at the Gibbs household were proving to be quite trying this year. Nothing seemed to be going according to plan. Of course, Jethro chalked that up to his current girlfriend wanting lights outside the house. Kate, on the other hand, decided that the whole problem was that Jethro didn't like Christmas.

"Kate, if you want lights on the outside of the house, why don't you put them up?" Jethro thought that it was a simple enough question. Apparently, it wasn't. The former Secret Service agent looked up sharply from the recipe book laid out on the under-used table.

"Because, _dear_, I have to do the baking, send out the invitations, do last minute Christmas shopping, wrap the presents, and put the tree up…all within the next week and a half." She had stood up and moved away from the table as she had been speaking, the glint in her eyes telling the older man that she would have her way.

Deciding it would be wise not to argue with his girlfriend of the past eight months, Jethro took the length of multicolored lights from by the door and the ladder from the basement outside. Once he had the ladder set up, he looked from the house to the coil of lights lying in the snow and back to the house. Doubtful that he'd manage to get the lights up, Jethro set to work.

Twenty minutes later, he was on his last nerve and walking back into the house. Ignoring the confused look from Kate for now, Gibbs moved down to the basement. Hearing boxes being moved and random objects being thrown around, Kate started down the stairs, only to meet her boss halfway holding a long cord. "What--"

"Where. Are. The. Other. Extension. Cords?" [1] Jethro ground out, cutting the her off.

"Tony's borrowing them." Kate braced herself for what she was sure was going to come. Surprisingly enough, Jethro merely sighed and made his way back outside. Now more than a little confused, Caitlin walked out to see what was wrong. Gibbs was attempting to connect the string of lights to the cord. Finally, the lights were on.

"Uh, Kate?" Jethro called. "They supposed to blink?" [2] She looked about to say something. Before she could say anything, however, there was a snap, and then nothing.

"Looks like one of the bulbs burned out…." she commented. Next thing they knew, the rest of the lights went dark. [3]

"Perfect….just perfect…" Jethro mumbled, climbing down again. Stalking around Kate, he walked back into the house.

"What are you doing now?" she asked, more out of curiosity than anything else. Kate stood there, waiting for an answer as he shuffled through the cabinets.

"Getting a flashlight," [4] he responded. "Where are the replacement bulbs?"

"They should be in the box." With that, she handed him the box and watched him leave the house for a third time. A few minutes later, he walked back in looking quite relived.

"You do it next year." [5]

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[1] Actual line from song: "What, we have no extension cords?!?"

[2] Actual line: "Now why the hell are they blinking?!?!?"

[3] Actual line: "One light goes out, they ALL go out!!!"

[4] Actual line: "Get a flashlight...I blew a fuse!!"

[5] Actual line: "FINE! YOU'RE SO SMART, YOU RIG UP THE LIGHTS!!!"

So, yeah....I had to summarize the actual lines in order to meet my 500-word-per-chapter mandate. If you have pairing requests, leave them in a review....or just review anyways :) I love you all!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3/12--Much Ado About Emily**

Pairing: None

Character Focus: Tobias Fornell

Season: Any/All

Author's Notes: Never written anything with Fornell before, so he might be a little OOC…or drunk, considering the line from the song……..take your pick. And for this "scenario", Emily is with Diane, so she doesn't see her daddy get wasted. Gibbs makes an appearance here.

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_The third thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me  
Hangovers_

Why did it seem that this always happened at Christmas time? As long as he could remember, it had been the same every year….at least, every year since the divorce. He would spend Christmas alone from about eleven a.m. onward. Emily would stay with him over Christmas Eve night, open her presents in the morning, and then Diane would come and get her to spend the rest of the day with her family. Could there ever be a year that Tobias could have his daughter for an entire Christmas weekend?

And it was this very question that seemed to vex him to the point of drinking. Why Diane had to have their daughter for the majority of the day, he could not for the life of him figure out. So he asked the bottle for help. And the answer still eluded him. He tried to find it in a different drink every year. But he never seemed to find it. This year, he had started earlier in the day than usual. Normally, he would wait until about five o'clock….but this Christmas, Tobias opened the bottle at three. At four, there was a knock at the door.

Opening it, Tobias was a little surprised to find his old friend on the other side. "What are you doing here, Jethro?" he asked, stepping aside to allow Gibbs to enter before closing the door.

"Not like I've really got anything else to do, Tobias," he answered, looking around. "Still haven't found your answer, I'm guessing?" Jethro merely nodded once when Tobias didn't answer. "Thought not." He sat down and put his feet up.

"You want a drink?" Fornell asked, already pouring a second glass for Jethro. Gibbs took it silently. The two old friends sat drinking quietly, both feeling that nothing really needed to be said.

"You know this is gonna hurt tomorrow morning, right?" Jethro asked after a couple minutes of comfortable silence.

"Yeah. I know. But….you know how Diane can drive a man to drink." Tobias answered with a small chuckle at the end. Gibbs smirked his answer. "I don't know why she doesn't just take full custody of Emily…"

"Look on the bright side," Jethro said, setting down his glass. "You'll have her for all of New Years." Tobias just nodded and took another swallow of his drink. "Maybe next year you can get her to let you keep Emily for the holidays…"

"Maybe," he agreed. "But I doubt it." Another drink. "It's all I can do not to go over there and get her myself…." Tobias sighed. "Is it still kidnapping if it's your own kid?" he asked.

"I think so," Jethro answered, taking another sip of his own drink. "And if you kidnapped Emily, Diane would take full custody. You don't want that." Not surprisingly, Tobias shook his head. "You really should slow down," he suggested.

"I'm fine, Jethro." Fornell downed what was left in his glass. "Really."

"Okay," Jethro said, standing up. "Okay." With that, he left.

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All right....my first piece about Tobias....what do you think? Next chapter will be a surprise Abby/??? pairing! Once again, reviews and/or suggestions are much appreciated!

Luvs and Christmas Wishes,

GundamDelta6


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4/12--Signed and Sealed**

Pairing: Abby/McGee

Character Focus: Timothy McGee

Season: 1

Author's Note: I figured I'd set this one while they were dating (a.k.a. before Tim joined the team) instead of putting them back together….it just made more sense to me to do it this way. They might be OOC…it is first season, after all.

Author's Note 2: It's astounding how many people have requested this pairing. I would not have let this story go without at least one McAbby chapter...it's one of my main pairings.

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_The fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to meSending Christmas cards_

He had barely raised his hand to knock when the door flew open. He took half a step back, eyes widening in surprise. "How…" he started, shaking his head and taking a breath. "You looked through the window, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah," the other said as if it was obvious, as was her usual way of answering questions.

"Abby…never mind," Tim said, sighing. Sometimes, Abby really was hard to deal with. It was easier to be surprised by her than to do the actual surprising. Timothy had gotten used to it over the last few months, though. "You didn't even know I was coming," he tried.

"Well, no…but I saw a shadow and I looked out the window. When I saw it was you, I opened the door." Again, her tone indicated she was stating a fact that was not to be disputed. For a few moments, Tim thought she had been hitting the caffeine. But before he said anything even resembling that thought, he decided to get the point.

"I thought I would stay here for a while before Christmas." Seeing that Abby was about to say something, he held up a hand. "Are you gonna let me in? It's cold." Tim realized he was whining, but it _was_ cold. It was the twenty-first of December, after all.

"Oh! Sorry, Timmy!" she stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind them. The first thing he saw when he walked in was the stacks of folded card paper and envelopes on the table by the couch. "I'm writing Christmas cards," she said, noticing where McGee was looking. "Wanna help?" Unknowing of what he was agreeing to, Tim accepted the pen from Abby and sat down.

She sat next to him, placing finished cards in envelopes and setting them aside to seal and stamp later. Every once in a while, they would trade jobs when one or the other complained of a hand cramp. Not many people wrote Christmas cards out by hand anymore…except Abby. Finally, after the fourth switch off (Tim couldn't figure out how Abby knew enough people to send out so many cards each year), he had to ask.

"Why do you write all of these out by hand? Why not just get the pre-printed ones?" He had thought it was a simple question; pre-printed cards were easier. You just had to sign your name, seal it up, and send it off. He wasn't sure how he expected Abby to react. But when she did, he wasn't expecting it.

"It's more personal this way. You can't honestly tell me you don't write your own Christmas cards, can you?" she asked. A shocked somewhat hurt look crossed her face when Tim nodded. "You don't?"

"No, Abby. I don't write my own cards. I don't know enough people. Hell, I don't even know half the people _you're_ sending cards to." How he thought that would console her, he didn't know. "Sorry," he said, not knowing why.

"I know."

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After watching "Silent Night", I kinda figured that if Abby did Christmas cards, she'd probably write them all out by hand....lol

Anyways, you all know the drill. Review. Request if you want. There's 8 chapters left...I'll try to get in as many requests as I can, even if I don't normally write the pairing....

More coming soon....

GD6


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